Yet Another Reason to Hate Technology

	SMS	Get Minyanim Through Text Messaging and Email

	Introduction It is now possible to find upcoming minyanim through SMS (text messaging) and through email! This means that if you have text message or email capabilities on your cell phone or PDA (or have friends who do) you can almost instantly -- usually within 30 seconds -- get local shul minyan information even when you are on the go and away from your computer.
	Current areas of coverage This service is currently available in the following areas that MinyanMaps has extensive coverage: Manhattan Queens Far Rockaway Five Towns Tri-state Metro Area Mincha Edison, NJ Teaneck, NJ As additional areas attain greater minyan coverage the service will be rolled out to those areas. We rely greatly on the assistance of users like you to enter in minyan information so that shortly this system will work for anywhere in the world. Therefore, before attempting to use the SMS feature in other areas, please check MinyanMaps on the web to ensure that your area has complete minyan coverage
	How Your cell phone must first of all be capable of sending emails. Many cell phones can send text messages and emails. A good way to check is to see if, in the area where you phone asks whom you are sending the message, it gives an option to type using letters instead of just numbers. Consult your phone's manual. The address to send the message to is minyanim@minyanmaps.com. The body of the message can either be a zip code, or a city and state in the format city, state (eg., Kew Gardens Hills, NY). There is no need to enter an email subject. You may optionally enter in a start time (if you don't the assumed time is the current one), and the number of results you would like to receive (default is 5). The time must be entered in the format of Hours:MinutesAM/PM (eg., 8:45AM; 12:40PM). To change the number of results type '#' followed by the number. Finally, you must put a space between all search words. Here are some examples: How do I get... Send this message... Upcoming 5 minyanim in Far Rockaway Far Rockaway, NY Upcoming 10 minyanim in Forest Hills, NY Forest Hills, NY #10 Upcoming 5 minyanim in Lawrence, NY starting 3:45PM or later Lawrence, NY 3:45PM Upcoming 5 minyanim in zip code 11367 11367 Upcoming 15 minyanim in zip code 11516 starting 1:30PM or later 11516 1:30PM #15 Since there is a limit of 160 characters per SMS message, only two or three minyanim can fit in a single message. Therefore, if you request more than you may receive multiple messages that contain the MinyanMaps response. Additionally, due to these space constraints, the response is abbrievated. Here is a sample response that you might receive: Min Shaarei Teshuv 4:00 14435 71nd Rd Min Cong Toras Eme CL+5 [~4:47] 7815 Parsons Blvd. Min Sephardim CL+5 [~4:47] 15062 78th Road The first three letters represents Mincha, a tefillah type (Shachris, Mincha or Maariv). Then, comes the abbreviated shul name. The time for minyan follows. In this case, CL+5 indicates that the minyan will take place 5 minutes after candle lighting, followed by the calculated time for that minyan. Finally comes the address of the minyan. The service is very exacting. If you do not follow the instructions correctly, you may not receive a response. We appreciate all feedback for this most useful service.

Havenoidea

Hamodia, the chareidi newspaper the internet must be protected from, has a particularly egregious editorial in the Wednesday edition.

However, most of us will not realize why.

Under the heading 'The New York Times Declares War" Hamodia decries a series in the Times portraying religious institutions as the beneficiaries of priviliges and largesse that other American organizations cannot aspire to. It makes no less than 8 mentions of The New York Times in a quarter page.

As those of us who have written for Hamodia, or attempted to, are well aware, the mere mention of any other media whatsoever is brutally edited by the same invidual who writes the editorials.

Is it time for Hamodia itself to have the same standards it applies to its writers? Is this inconsistency, as well as invidious, artless, and sometimes embarassing and brutal editing why Hamodia has lost most of its outside talent?

Hamodia is a great service to the chareidi community, and maintains an acceptable standard. However, inbred opinions and overly cautious but uneven editing have led to it not fulfilling its full potential and providing what it can to our community. In addition, their position on 'electronic media' is glaringly inconsistent with what one observes in their office.

May we propose an editorial board for the Hamodia editorial page (and perhaps for its Board of Censors as well)?

Et Tube, Breinde'?

I've known about YouTube for a year or more now, 'cause I'm a geek. I've consciously avoided it because modesty is not among its virtues.

So imagine my surprise when I come in one day find my very frum ezer kenagdo watching YouTube. No, she wasn't watching the newest campus amateur video. She was watching her (and my) einiklach in E. Yisroel play. My equally 'frum' daughter-in-law, wife of my kolel son, posted (privately) videos of the kids so we could enjoy them.

Since I highly doubt that my daughter-in-law discovered YouTube by herself, I presume that lots of 'learning' children' in E. Yisroel are doing this, to give their parents nachas.

Of course, ads for other YouTube videos are running down the right side of the screen, including movie trailers and plain amateur crud.

Since the internet is prohibited, we don't have our own YouTube, so the thousands of impressionable chareidim are exposed to some of the best 'features' of 2006 popular culture.

Score this unnecesary exposure to prostkeit as one more success for the anti internet kanoyim!

Quote of the Day

In an appreciation of R' Shlomo Freifeld in the Succos English issue of Mishpocha Magazine:

'He [Rabbi Freifeld] once discussed an attempt to assur, to forbid, a certain pursuit.
"If the only way that we can sell Torah is by rendering everything else forbidden, then we are bankrupt!" '

What Am I Missing Here?

Recently I was eavesdropping in shul on a story about an eminent Rosh Yeshiva / Mashgiach.
This is the type of person who speaks for and to hundreds, maybe thousands.
The type of gavra who is invited to speak in Lakewood. A talmid of one of the great builders of Torah in America who also has a large chassidishe following.

So, R' Plony, Shlita needed a car service right before Shabbos. And he was rightfully concerned that the car service driver (I presume a yid) might be mechalel Shabbos on the return trip.
At a red light, R' Plony became consternated, and asked why the driver was stopping. A fellow passenger answered that there was a red light.

R' Plony answered "gehinnom is worse than a red light"!

1. Am I missing something here, or should the type of driving we (too frequently?) see before shabbos actually be encouraged?

2. Is there a point of chilul hashem here in defying laws (especially safety laws), and does chilul hashem also involve gehinnom, or only chilul Shabbos?